Yoko Watanabe, (born July 12, 1953, Fukuoka, Japan—died July 15, 2004, Milan, Italy) Japanese opera singer who , made her professional debut on the opera stage in 1978 and over the next 22 years became renowned for the intensity of her portrayals of the major heroines, most notably Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. By the time she retired in 2000, she had starred at the world’s top four opera houses—La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City—the first Japanese soprano to do so.

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American operatic soprano known for her exquisite voice and for her meticulous attention to texts in many languages. Upshaw received a bachelor’s degree (1982) from Illinois Wesleyan University and a master’s degree (1984) from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. In 1984 she was a winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions,...

Italian operatic lyric tenor who was considered one of the finest bel canto opera singers of the 20th century. Even in the highest register, his voice was noted for its purity of tone, and his concerts, recordings, and television appearances—which provided him ample opportunity to display his ebullient personality—gained him a wide popular following....

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